The faculty in the Mechatronics and Manufacturing Group includes professors who research everything from production engineering to robotics.
The faculty group is made up of Yusuf Altintas, Mu Chiao, Elizabeth Croft, Clarence de Silva, Hsi-Yung (Steve) Feng, Antony Hodgson, Xiaodong Lu, Ryozo Nagamune, Robert Rohling, Farrokh Sassani, and Boris Stoeber. Some of the projects currently underway in this area are outlined below.
Dr. Yusuf Altintas — Manufacturing Automation
Current Projects: Chatter stability of machining operations, virtual machining process modeling, simulation and optimization, trajectory generation and motion control of high speed machine tools, dynamics of high speed spindles, precision machining, and sensors and actuators for machine tool testing and monitoring.
Dr. Mu Chiao — MEMS, Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
Current Projects: Micro-energy sources, protein-MEMS interaction, MEMS-based photonic devices, design, fabrication and packing of MEMS for biological applications.
Homepage for Mu Chiao
Dr. Elizabeth Croft — Robotics
Current Projects: Development and testing of compliant, intuitive, and stable human-robot interaction, vision guided robotic bin picking with visual servoing, visibility metrics, collision avoidance and vision guided grasp planning, and low jerk motion planning.
Dr. Clarence W. de Silva — Robotics
Current Projects: Instrumentation (sensing, actuation, communication, etc.) and intelligent control of industrial processes, intelligent cooperative robotics for safety/security-critical urban environments, design, assessment, and operation of mechatronic systems using Mechatronic Design Quotient (MDQ) and soft computing (fuzzy logic, neural networks, and genetic algorithms), and machine health monitoring and supervisory control using intelligent multi-sensor fusion.
Homepage for Clarence de Silva
Dr. Hsi-Yung (Steve) Feng — CAD/CAM/CAI
Current Research: CAD/CAM/CAI (Computer-Aided Design, Manufacturing, and Inspection) with emphasis on: multi-axis CNC machining, precision inspection and computational/coordinate metrology, and geometric modeling based on laser scanned point clouds.
Homepage for Hsi-Yung (Steve) Feng
Dr. Antony J. Hodgson — Medical Robotics, Biomechanics
Developing tools for computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery based on phase-processing of 3D ultrasound images to provide realtime 3D imaging information and on mini-robotic devices to enhance accuracy and shorten surgical time; designing a 3D scale model of the human eye to study sensorimotor issues; comparing surgical motor performance in simulators and the live operating room to validate simulators.
Dr. Xiaodong Lu — Mechatronics
Current Projects: Ultra-fast tool servos for diamond turning, encoder self-calibration, precision spindles, high-speed real-times computer, multiple D.O.F. electromagnetic actuators, and precision motion systems.
Dr. Hongshen Ma — Microfluidics and Biomedical Device Design
Current Projects: Microfluidic cell sorting by mechanical deformability, low-cost malaria detection device, microfluidic cell sorting by dielectrophoresis, magnetic endotracheal tube sensor, electrical impedance myography.
Dr. Ryozo Nagamune — Robust and Optimal Control
Current Projects: Modeling and system identification, model validation and simplification, controller and estimator design, analysis and implementation, and related optimization and computational algorithms, and in control applications, hard disk drive servo, machine-tool servo, MEMS control, and robotics.
Dr. Robert N. Rohling — Robotics, Medical Imaging
Current Projects: New acquisition techniques for ultrasounds, navigating large amounts of medical data and images in a timely manner, and calibration of robotic systems and surgical applications.
Dr. Farrokh Sassani — Manufactuing, Automation
Current Projects: Fault detection and diagnosis in hydraulic systems, and kinematic and dynamic modeling and analysis of wheelchair propulsion.
Dr. Boris Stoeber — MEMS, Microfluidics
Current Projects: Flow control in microfluidic devices, complex microflows, microflow characterization methods, micro-optical devices, and biomedical microdevices, and sensor technology.
Homepage for Boris Stoeber
